Book Description
A Vintage Original
"The actor will do, in public, what is considered impossible." When the renowned Polish director Jerzy Grotowski began his 1967 American workshop with these words, his students were stunned. But within four weeks they themselves had experienced the "impossible."
In
An Acrobat of the Heart, teacher-director-playwright Stephen Wangh reveals how Jerzy Grotowski's physical exercises can open a pathway to the actor's inner creativity. Drawing on Grotowski's insights and on the work of Stanislavski, Uta Hagen, and others, Wangh bridges the gap between rigorous physical training and practical scene and character technique. Wangh's students give candid descriptions of their struggles and breakthroughs, demonstrating how to transform these remarkable lessons into a personal journey of artistic growth. Courageous and compelling,
An Acrobat of the Heart is an invaluable resource for actors, directors, and teachers alike.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2001-06-01
I felt disappointed reading this book.... The ideas of the author are not fresh and his interpretation of Grotowski is, at best, misguided.
a grateful heart.......2001-01-30
After a long hiatus from performing, reading this book excited me to absolutely no end! Stephen's thoughts and wise teachings brought me back to a place that I'd forgotten and was sorely missing. Thank you for the palpable tenderness and care that LEAPS off the page directly into my world and " where I live " Reading about acting can be confusing, right? This book magically trancends anything stodgy, incoherent, or inconsistent in structure and message. ( SO MANY acting and performance manuals DO NOT EVER get past the lumpy and condescending realm...) THIS is elegantly crafted and now sacred to me! Thank you Stephen.
Every actor should read this book........2000-12-10
Stephen Wangh, a former student of Grotowski and now a teacher of Experimental theater shares his knowledge in this inspiring and well written book. First of all, I want to say that you really need to have a teacher and be in a group to learn Grotowski's physical acting better. Grotowksi's work can also be very challenging and confussing at times and this book really helps guide you through it. The book follows a group of Stephen Wangh's first students through his training. That is what makes the book better then your average acting text book. You take a journey along with these people while learning the Grotowski method. As an actor I could relate to the actors frustrations and fears and in the book we see them overcome them. The book explains everything from what clothes to wear to voice work. I am glad Wangh added a section at the end of the book about how to deal with and survive acting. Very few people talk about this subject and it needs to be brought up more. I read this book before I was about to start working on a play and it re-inspired me and made me more discplined and focused. Stephen Wang also isn't self centered and basically says that do what you have to do to do the role you're playing good but try this method. The book is very well-thought out and easy to understand. Any actor should read this even if they think they know the Grotowski method.
Next Best Thing.......2000-12-10
Reading Acrobat is like being with the authors (or the "next best thing"). It is a book filled with insights of interest to those in the theater and otherwise. It certainly has made my visits to the theater much more enjoyable.
A Teacher with Heart.......2000-11-03
Reading An Acrobat of the Heart is the very next best thing to having Stephen Wangh as a professor. The book has a delicate, intuitive approach to acting which is as introspective as it is outwardly provocative. Having been a student of Mr. Wangh I can fully attest to the profound effect this method of exploration has had upon not only my acting, but my knowledge of self. There is something gratifying about a physical and emotional approach to acting that I have never been able to find through either Meisner or sense memory work. An Acrobat of the Heart is like a good cup of tea, you are left a little warmer and a little wiser after.
Average customer rating:
- Prompted to re-read the classics
- Value of Classic Stories
- Wisdom in Action
- An absolute must read for all parents.
- December 28 issue of Breakpoint
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Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination
Vigen Guroian
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories
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A World of Faith
ASIN: 0195152646 |
Book Description
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their kids. Now, in this elegantly written and passionate book, Vigen Guroian provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. Guroian illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories--from "Pinocchio" and "The Little Mermaid" to "Charlotte's Web," "The Velveteen Rabbit," "The Wind in the Willows," and the "Chronicles of Narnia"--he argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. Throughout, Guroian highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity. At the same time, he so persuasively evokes the enduring charm of these familiar works that many readers will be inspired to reread their favorites and explore those they may have missed.
Customer Reviews:
Prompted to re-read the classics.......2001-12-20
I stumbled across this book a few years ago when browsing through the various sections on Amazon's web site (it was in the National Public Radio section). The reviews sounded interesting, so I took a chance. I am so glad I did.
Like most people, I have been bombarded with the "Disney-fied" versions of most of our children's classics, where all the characters are cute and there are several shades of gray when it comes to the moral or point of the story. I had forgotten how dark the original fairy tales were and how clear they were about good and evil. The part of the book about Guroian's college class and a fourth grade class' reading of Pinochio reminded me just how much children really understand and how clearly and, sometimes, simply they view the world.
Reading this book has prompted me to find copies of the original stories. What an interesting discussion it would be to compare adults' and children's understanding of the how the original versions of the stories differ from the more recent or animated versions.
Value of Classic Stories.......2001-10-01
The themes of classic stories have not been improved upon over the years. As well as awaken a child's moral imagination, they also reinforce character traits with biblical origin and timeless application. I also recommend Storybook Mentors, Grown-up wisdom from children's classics for families, teachers and counselors, and all who love classic literature.
Wisdom in Action.......1999-09-23
Professor Guroian's latest work provides the reader with a challenging prescription for developing moral excellence. The framework of the Aristotleian notions of intellectual and moral virtue give an ancient and yet ever so modern perspective to his understanding of the practical science of ethics illuminated by fairy tales and modern children's literature. Those who are responsible for the young will do well to make frequent reference to this book.
An absolute must read for all parents........1999-06-09
This book is a classic "must read" for all parents who want to instill solid character into their children. Guroian reviews many of the "classic" fairy tales and reveals the unbelievable distortion that has occurred with modern day translations, abridged versions, and animated movies. Time after time, Guroian traces the same awful conversion from the original Christian virtues and values to the quicksand-like obsessions with physical beauty, romantic love, and self. Reading his book gives parent's the truth about why fairy tales are so important for "tending the heart of virtue" in their children. For children reading the original fairy tales, they will see themselves and the deeper reality of things, complete with good and evil components, in a framework of an interesting and powerfully written story. In subsequently reading the original Pinocchio (covered in the book) to my two boys (8 and 10); we were all absolutely "stunned" by Collodi's brilliance, his language, and the truth that this great classic reveals about ourselves.
Don't miss this one. You and your children will benefit immensely.
December 28 issue of Breakpoint.......1999-01-04
When Vigen Guroian [veegun ga-ROY-un] set out to teach a class on children's literature to his undergraduate students at Loyola College in Maryland,he invited his daughter's fourth-grade class in for some of the discussions. But after a discussion of Pinocchio, the undergrads were shocked and embarrassed to find that the fourth-graders had understood the book better than they had. Why was this?
The answer, Guroian says, is that we have neglected the development of the moral imagination. The college students literally were less capable of understanding the moral themes in the story of Pinocchio.
As Guroian writes in his new book, Tending the Heart of Virtue, the undergrads noticed that the fourth-graders were better at grasping "the nature and source of Pinocchio's temptations and backsliding, and were less ready to excuse him for the behavior that got him into so much trouble and caused his father such grief."
His students even began to suspect that "maybe they had lost something in growing up -- a sense of wonder that might have been better tended and retained" if they had been brought up reading books like Pinocchio. "Perhaps," Guroinan concludes, "the fourth graders they had met were actually nearer than they to the wellsprings of human morality and were better served by reading Pinocchio than they had been by taking a required college course in ethics."
Guroian's new book is subtitled, How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination, and in it he explains that children are born with a strong moral sense. They always want to know if a character in a story is good or bad. "This need to make moral distinctions," he says, "is a gift, a grace, that human beings are given at the start of their lives." But it is a gift that needs to be cultivated or it will atrophy and disappear.
And that's exactly what's happening, as Guroian's experience with college students has proved. "Our society," Guroian warns, "is embracing an antihuman trinity of pragmatism, subjectivism, and cultural relativism that denies the existence of a moral sense or a moral law." And in this intellectual climate, the moral imagination is being starved.
One of the best remedies can be found in classic literature. Moral education is best accomplished through stories, through depictions of courage and the other virtues, showing what they look like in action. A classic story like Pinocchio or Peter Pan or the Velveteen Rabbit communicates vital truths about what it is to be human. It teaches us what bravery is, how to resist temptation, how to practice love and self-sacrifice. A dry course on ethics simply cannot begin to bring these themes to life in the same way.
Why not pick up a copy of Guroian's Tending the Heart of Virtue, and reacquaint yourself with classic children's literature, and read it to your children. Who knows? If you start early enough, by the time they're in college--even the most secular one imaginable--they just might graduate with as much moral discernment as they had when they were in fourth grade.
Charles W. Colson (c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries
Book Description
Sixth in the bestselling futuristic romance series-from a RITA Award-winning author. First time in trade!
DuFleur Thyme is a scientist who's secretly experimenting with time. She'll allow no distractions from her work-not even from a HeartMate. Meanwhile, Saille T'Willow has sent his HeartGift out into the world in hopes of finding his HeartMate, who, it turns out, is DuFleur. Still, DuFleur wants nothing to do with Saille, especially when she discovers that it was his grandmother who brought about her father's ruin. Unfortunately, her body can't help but submit to the passion he stirs in her. But when a scandal threatens Saille's position as head of the family, will DuFleur stand by his side?
Customer Reviews:
This futuristic fantasy puts a happy spin on a classic theme.......2007-10-08
The former D'Willow had been a most disagreeable GreatLady now she lays in stasis in a cryogenic tube on the earthship Nuada's Sword waiting for someone to find a cure for the virus that is killing her. Among her evil deeds were:
- Making matches knowing that she no longer had the Flair for it.
- Sending her male relatives away from the family residence while subjugating the females.
- Keeping the knowledge of her family's HeartMates from them.
- Being responsible for ruining the reputation of Vulg T'Thyme and the banning of time experimentation.
All of these things now affected the new GreatLord Saille T'Willow. Saille had been banished to the country for being male and for having a greater flair for Matchmaking than his MotherDam. Now he was the head of the Willow household and greatly preferred by the rest of his family. Saille had felt a Heartmate connection and not knowing who she was had taken a great risk in sending his heartgift out into the city to find her, and it had. But she had tossed it right back out again.
Dufluer Thyme has had a lot on her plate recently. She'd been kidnapped and nearly murdered by a cult and had also lost her father and the family residence when his time experiment had gone awry. She had found Saille's heartgift but had sent it on its way. She had no luck with personal relationships and needed no distractions from the illicit time experiments she hoped would cure her father's good name.
Of course Saille's heartgift finds its way back to her thanks to Dufluer's FamCat Fairyfoot who wants to live in a GreatHouse. Now knowing who her HeartMate is, it is more difficult for Dufluer to resist the temptation even though he is the grandson of her enemy, but soon the two are at odds over her experiments. Saille can't bear the thought of his HeartMate putting herself in danger. Dufluer can't live without practicing her primary flair and her only chance for redeeming her father's name may be in finding the cure for the woman who could ruin both their lives. Her rival T'Agave will stop at nothing to make sure she fails. Both are keeping secrets close to the vest. Will they learn to trust of will this be their last Heart Dance?
Oh my, to think that a selfish old woman could adversely affect so many lives, even while lying in a state of stasis! But never fear D' Willow gets exactly what's coming to her and so do her much beleaguered family members. Robin D. Owens puts a fantastic new spin on the Romeo and Juliet theme which luckily has a much happier ending on Celta! Another great read.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch for PNR Reviews
One of the best of the Celta Series.......2007-10-08
6th in the Celta series, this is one of the best. I had been put off after Heart Choice (just not the HEA I had hoped) but have been encouraged again. This latest entry Heart Dance had some turns and twists and answered questions in the series. The heroine was a bit selfish and the hero was somewhat shallow as well. As the relationship progressed, they brought out the best in each other and had a wonderful ending. Appreciate the family tree and reminder of relationships in the beginning and the cover was beautiful. Love the series and would hope to see it eventually in audiobook format.
Another great trip to Celta.......2007-10-04
A wonderful weaving of world building, psi power, heartmates, and famcats--again. Robin creates credible characters on the fantasy planet of Celta. This time we have a matchmaking man and a time-changing woman. I appreciated a hero of integrity and patience, rather than muscle and macho, but a real man, just the same. And the heroine has her issues of insecurity, but stubborness. Very human in the midst of spells and psi-passion. And, of course, the cats can steal a scene or two.
A satisfying series continues.
Heart Dance.......2007-08-24
Robin Owens continues to provide interesting and new powers and relationships to provide the reader with intrigue and romance. I have enjoyed every book she has written so far. I hope she can maintain the quality. My only concern is she is making the heroines rabidly anti committment. (But it almost makes the heroine selfish (even though she is lonely)It works in this story, but it is easy to get carried away in future stories.
another super Celta book.......2007-08-13
I won't bother with recapping since there are plenty of good reviews doing this. I have enjoyed all the Celta books, and hope for many more. Owens keeps the series alive, fresh and I love the FAMS!
Average customer rating:
- Galoshes-Galumphing!
- My Mama Had A Dancing Heart
- A Lyrical Elegy for Dance
- Love it
- A lilting story
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My Mama Had A Dancing Heart (Orchard Paperbacks)
Libba Gray
Manufacturer: Scholastic
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ASIN: 0531071421 |
Customer Reviews:
Galoshes-Galumphing!.......2007-10-02
This book certainly expanded my three year old's vocabulary! She recently began creative dance and loves the book. You'll find her dancing around outside singing, "Galoshes-galumphing, Galoshes-galumphing, Galoshes-galumphing!" Lots of fun!
My Mama Had A Dancing Heart.......2007-03-11
This book is wonderfully descriptive and takes the reader through a beautiful journey through the seasons. It also emphasizes the influence special people can have in our lives. Recommended for readers young and old.
A Lyrical Elegy for Dance.......2007-02-11
This book is a treasure for all who love the melody of words, and the syncopation of the dance. It reads like a poem, and gives a joyous, yet subtly nostalgic, paen to the dance, and the love between a mother and a daughter. I bought it as a gift to the students I have who are dancers, to read to them, and to bring into the world of dance. It is truely a musical book!The scratched illustrations dance in their own right, too.
Love it.......2005-02-28
Nice art and poetry. It's one of our favorites. I love reading it to my children.
A lilting story.......2003-05-28
I first bought this book because I was fond of the author. Reading it the first time to my daughters' first-grade class, I cried. The author, Libba Moore Gray, perfectly captures the dance of the changing seasons and how the mother and daughter celebrate. After I finished the book that first time, a very rough-and-tumble boy asked, "Is that book poetry?" Of course it is! The best kind: the kind that reaches children.
Average customer rating:
- Share the spirit of America with others
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The Heart of America
Kevin Fleming
Manufacturer: Portfolio Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0966242378 |
Book Description
The Heart of America contains the most spectacular photography on the USA ever published. Inspiring, first-person text and photographs by Kevin Fleming take the reader from Florida's everglades to the summit of Alaska's Mt. McKinley. A beautiful photography book that makes for the perfect gift.
Customer Reviews:
Share the spirit of America with others.......2007-01-14
This book provides an interesting look at America and its people. The photography and its messages are captivating. This book makes a wonderful gift if you want to share the spirit of America.
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What My Heart Has Seen
Tony Bennett
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0847819728
Release Date: 1996-08-15 |
Customer Reviews:
What a treasure........2002-08-03
This is a wonderful coffee table book full of Tony's (Anthony Benedetto's) beautiful art and lots of personal "asides" that we fans all appreciate. Well done!
Book Description
You know him as a superstar who's won awards and appeared in videos and pulls all those great moves onstage. But long before he was a Backstreet Boy, he was my boy--and I want to share his whole exctitng story with you.
I'll tell you about my favorite memories of Nick, as both a mom and a manager...what he was like as a little boy, his dreams, the early auditions and contests, the pain and the heartbreak along the way, the big break, and the behind-the-scenes entries that only an insider gets to see.
Since I've been in touch with so many of you, I know the kinds of things you really want to know. And just like you, I love him too--so let me share some secrets (and maybe brag just a little...after all, I am his mom).
Best,
Jane E. Carter
Customer Reviews:
The Heart and Soul of Nick Carter by Jane Carter.......2007-01-17
I've got to admit, I was quite impressed with this book and I also found it to be very interesting reading... in fact, I find it so interesting that I end up reading it over and over again. Heck, I might even start reading it again tonight. This book has all interesting facts about Nick Carter (even if some of it is outdated). It has everything about from how his parents decided to name Nick as well as who they named him after, and where he stands in the music business today as a Backstreet Boy. Like I said, this book goes back to 1998 but that is ok, because I like books that go back in time (history, biographies, etc). Anyway, I highly recommend this book (who figure?). KTBSPA
BORING...........2004-08-18
You shouldn't buy it i've had it for four years and ive only read the first ten pages I'm selling it because it is pointless!
It's all about Nick...........2003-03-19
If you thought you knew all there is to know about Nick Carter, think again! Jane Carter tells us some stuff about her son that only she and the rest of Nick's family know about. This is a very nice book, beautifully written by Jane. It is full of secrets and anecdotes about Nick's childhood and rise to superstardom. However, the information about Nick's career may seem kind of old, now, since this book was published in 1998. Perhaps Jane should have waited a couple of years before writing a book about her son, because God knows she would have plenty of things to say : she could give her opinion on Nick's arrest, his solo career, the trials and tribulations that the Backstreet Boys have been through, Nick's relationship with Willa Ford (yeah right, like Nick would let her write about that!!), etc. Nick's been through a lot of things since 1998, and I believe that if Jane decided to write another book about Nick, it would have a lot more substance and depth than this one. But don't get me wrong! It's a great read, as pleasant as a fairytale. Because, in many ways, that's what Nick's life is! And seeing it through his mother's eyes really gives it a whole new dimension.
As a BSB fan you have to read it some time.........................2002-02-20
I have got the book and I like the writing style and to know the facts as a BSB fan. I kinda think it's wrong to get money out of someone else his succes, but on the other hand it ain't lies and Nick knew of and agreed with it, so as not such a big fan anymore (NO I didn't become a hater) I would suggest it, but not too much.
Only For TRUE Nick Carter Fans!.......2001-12-04
I'll be completely honest:
If I weren't such an obsessed Backstreet Boys fan, I would consider this book (bad).
It's not well-written, it wanders and meanders to the point it doesn't make sense, and it's very self-serving.
However, being an obsessed Backstreet Boys/Nick Carter fan, I love the book.
The first few chapters are the best, because they read more like a story than a biography. Plus, they told me the most about Nick that I didn't already know.
Near the end, however, it turns into a "How to Turn Your Kid Into a Star" how-to manual. BORING!
BOTTOM LINE: LOVE Nick Carter? Buy the book. LIKE Nick Carter? Borrow it from a friend or the library. COULDN'T CARE LESS about Nick Carter? Avoid this book like the plague.
Book Description
Since the early 70s, film theory has focused on melodrama as a particularly challenging genre. Feminism, in particular, has claimed a stake in re-examination of the form, raising many critical questions about the relation between gender and culture. This collection contains the most exciting contributions from nearly two decades of critical endeavor to come to terms with these questions. Christine Gledhill's overview precedes essays that range from classics by Thomas Elsaesser, Laura Mulvey, and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith to newly commissioned perspectives covering Hollywood's output from the early 20s to the 60s. Home is Where the Heart Is constitutes invaluable reading for anyone interested in the role of melodrama in the history of cinema, feminist film criticism, and analyses of popular culture.
Book Description
Naomi Wallace's plays speak the underside of life. Her characters suffer and survive against the enormous weight of the times with a dignity that inspires. Her work challenges the audience and reader to reexamine the conflicts and meaning of our everyday lives through her singular, poetic imagery and language.
Includes: One Flea Spare
In the Heart of America
Slaughter City
The War Boys
The Trestle at Pope's Creek
Customer Reviews:
an impressive collection of plays by a modern master.......2003-04-28
a collection of plays. i first became aware of wallace when my university did one flea spare, which i was extremely impressed with for its depth, creativity, emotional focus, and brechtian wit. i really enjoyed one flea spare on the printed page; i truly believe this is a play that deserves to be put in the same class as the other american greats, such death of a salesman, mourning becomes electra, and the crucible. in one flea spare the action involves four people impatiently waiting out a quarantine sentence at the time of the great plague in london and its themes include the loss of innocence and class and gender struggles. the final play, trestle at pope lick creek, is definitely the second best of the plays. set in a rural community, the play's unflinching look at a world of poverty and lack of opportunity is chilling and memorable. there were parts of the other 3 plays that were also well done, although in general they were not as tightly scripted. it is interesting to see wallace's general style becomes more apparent in reading these plays, in her language and her use of such devices as playing with time. in the heart of america is set during the gulf war and the the war boys concerns three men watching the mexican-american border for illegal immigrants. slaughter city is about workers in a slaughtering factory who are trying to preserve their union. all in all this is definitely an impressive collection of plays by a modern master.
Book Description
The music started: two guitarists beating out more Alboreás. The women took turns to dance in a frenzy, each trying to outdo the other. “Deep Song always sings in the night,” Lorca had written. It was the credo of the flamenco: a rejection of the mundane, the ordinary, the life of the everyday man, embracing, rather, an extreme world – extreme passions, extreme feelings, the extremes of life and death. And it was a way of life I wanted to believe in – its excitement, its danger, the affirmation it gave you that you were different, and alive.
Destined for a sedate and predictable life in academia, Jason Webster was derailed in his early twenties when his first love, an aloof Florentine beauty, dumped him unceremoniously. Loveless and eager for adventure – and determined to fulfill a secret dream -- he left Oxford and headed for Spain, the country that had long captivated his imagination, and set off in search of duende, the intense and mysterious emotional state – part ecstasy, part melancholy – that is the essence of Spain’s signature art form: flamenco.
Duende is Webster’s captivating memoir of the years he spent in Spain pursuing his obsession. Studying flamenco guitar until his fingers bleed, he becomes involved in a passionate yet doomed affair with Lola, a flamenco dancer (and older woman) married to the gun-toting Vicente, only to flee the coastal city of Alicante in fear for his life. He ends up in Madrid, miserable and lovelorn, but it’s here that he has his first taste of the gritty world of flamenco’s progenitors – the Gypsies whose edgy lives and fervent commitment to the art of flamenco vividly illustrate the path to duende. Before long he is deeply immersed in a flamenco underworld that combines music and dance with drugs and crime. After two years Webster moves on to Granada where, bruised and battered, he reflects on his discovery of the emotional heart of Spain.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Unputdownable.......2007-02-28
I have been the Flamenco correspondent for Classical Guitar magazine for a decade, and for Guitar International for a decade before that; and everything Jason Webster says about Flamenco here seems to me absolutely accurate, with the piffling exception of a couple of misremembered names. (I think the Pedros Habichuela and Pinto should both be Pepes, but that could just be my ignorance).
But if your object is to find out about Flamenco, then this is not the book to read; the classic in that regard is Donn Pohren's The Art of Flamenco.
The present book is less about Flamenco than it is about the author, but I don't regard that as an obstacle. What is certain is that he is a born story-teller; and if his narrative ends up portraying him as rather self-centred, at least he has the grace to realise it and the honesty to admit it.
Jason Webster is not the first to have found life in the anglophone world empty, and to have sought its meaning in Flamenco. His is, however, the first (as far as I'm aware) to write such an account after the Spanish way of life changed so drastically (following the death of Franco).
If your budget will run to it, read Gerald Howson's The Flamencos of Cádiz Bay first, and then this. Both are unputdownable.
!Ole!.......2005-12-04
Maybe it takes a Spaniard to fully appreciate this book. I thought it was absolutely hilarious! Webster's understated British humor and Spain and the Spaniards...wonderful! The Spaniards are a beautiful, passionate, fascinating and naturally funny people. Webster found the heart and soul of Spain and the Spaniards. Some things cannot be explained. You either get them, or you don't. To those of you who don't, you have my sincerest sympathy. !Viva Espana!
I enjoyed this book. .......2005-07-16
I enjoyed this book. I think he does a good job of making you feel like he has come full circle in search of this duende that he seeks. To read his story of leaving everything just to follow his dream of living and breathing Spain and the music of flamenco is an intriguing story only because it is such a frightening and exciting thought. How many people uproot themselves and move to a foreign land to live and barely scrape by all because of the love of music.
No Expectations.......2004-05-20
This book is very interesting, but don't expect to find the real duende or understand flamenco any more than you might already, after all, it's not something that could be described in books anyway. Jason gives an excellent perspective of an outsider in relation to flamenco and how guiris like us relate to it, and that's the beauty of his story.
There aren't that many white boys and girls looking for the real stuff, that which is not sold at tablaos for foreigners. His encounters with people, his search for flamenco action, and his ultimate lessons about the culture of the gypsies and their invariable connection with flamenco make this book worthwhile.
This book is a very light read; it's entertaining, frustrating, sad and funny. But above all, it's one man's adventure, it's his diary, and being a devout fanatic of flamenco myself, I feel fortunate that someone as crazy about flamenco as I has shared his experience.
Yo! This is a personal story, not a manual.......2004-04-22
I think the problem that some of the thumbs-down reviewers had with this book was that they got sidetracked by the subtitle, "a journey into the heart of Flamenco." They apparently thought that it was going to be a didactic work. (The author is an Oxford graduate, so we must use words like "didactic"). Instead, it's a very personal story, a "tell all" about the author's experiences as a foreigner (i.e., non-Spaniard) trying to lead a flamenco life, and I don't find that it was represented as anything other than that. And insofar as that story goes, it was generally well written
What is clear is that Jason Webster came to Spain in search of flamenco without doing any prior research or study, not even having touched a guitar previously - rather odd for an Oxford grad, but maybe that was part of what he was running away from. That's what got him into all the strange and sometimes funny scenes he relates because seemingly every flamenco aficionado he ran into was a self-proclaimed "expert" who told him something different.
Poor Jason also came to the wrong places: Valencia and Alicante on the southeast coast of Spain, two venues that are well outside flamenco's incubators: southwest Andalucía (Cádiz, Jeréz and Sevilla province in particular), and Madrid, the capital where most of the best artists end up because it provides the best means of earning a living. That's just about analogous to someone coming to the United States in search of jazz and blues but starting out with a flat in Des Moines, Iowa, then moving on to Butte, Montana. He did get to Granada, which has a much smaller but increasingly thriving flamenco scene, but only after a good deal of trial and error - and then he went back to the southeast coast anyway. And that was after living in a poor suburb of Madrid without ever visiting the thriving dance studios where he could have met and learned to play with some really good artists instead of stealing cars and doing lines of coke.
Those missteps probably lead the author to the main title, "Duende." Many an experienced flamenco groans when they hear that word. Federico García Lorca started the craze for "duende" back in the twenties, and Donn Pohren enshrined it for all English-speaking aficionados through his work, "The Art of Flamenco", first published in the early sixties and which for many decades was the only book in English on the subject. "Duende" literally means an elf or gnome, and can include poltergeists as well. It did imply "soul" or "spirit" within some circles in flamenco, but overuse caused such word inflation that its original meaning was greatly devalued, and many flamencos came to avoid it. "Aire" was the principal word used instead of "duende" when I lived in Spain in the early seventies, and now one also hears "pellizco" which may or may not mean the same thing. "Duende" is today more often used by promoters in the tourist trade rather than artists. Of course, the use of that word in the title might well be due to the publisher rather than the author, but that would be consistent: "Duende" once again being used to sell something rather than describe it.
The one serious bone I might have to pick with the author, however, is his intimation that drugs are an integral, even necessary, part of being a flamenco. True, drugs became very pervasive in the post-Franco era, but they have never been anything close to "necessary." For over a hundred years flamenco did quite well fueled solely with nicely fermented grape juice, perhaps a bit of distilled spirit, but that was it. Weed, coke, hash are strictly optional and mostly detrimental. He seems to have swallowed the drugs-are-necessary idea hook, line and sinker, but the fact that the particular Gypsies he hung out with had to steal cars to make ends meet attests to their lack of success as professional flamenco artists. Drugs and thievery are dead ends, not roads to the heart of flamenco or anything else. Yes, Camaron de la Isla, one of flamenco's greats, used lots of drugs and smoked like a house on fire. He also died at the age of 42. (But if you do enough drugs you just might see a few duendes.)
The back jacket cover says that the author still lives in Valencia. If he harbors any hope of writing a sequel, he better start thinking about moving to where there's at least a flamenco road to follow.
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